Phone Nightmare, French-style

October 28, 1985|The Morning Call

Obtaining a telephone in France is an experience very much like undergoing major surgery without anesthetic: It is painful and seems to take forever. Delays of many months, even years, are not uncommon for those who wish, in the Gallic style, to reach out and touch someone.

Now, zut alors! With the push of a button, every telephone number in France has been changed. The probability of chaos is overwhelming. Consider these possibilities: The French Intelligence Service accidentally connects with the Paris office of Greenpeace; or the fashion house of Givenchy mistakenly calls arch-rival Dior and blabs the spring haute couture secrets. Sacre bleu!

Why is all this happening? According to the head of the French Ministry of the Post, Telegraph and Telephone, the country quite simply was running out of telephone numbers. By adding various prefixes to existing numbers, the ministry has doubled the number of numbers. The need was obvious - and pressing. France's phone fixation has caused the telephone census to zoom from two million in 1955 to 23 million this year.